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ok. i apologize in advance for the abrupt tone of this email, but it will soon become apparent why. this just happened, and i wanted to write it down while i remember it fresh, so i can copy and paste and use it wherever it needs to go. i ask that as long as this entry is up, PLEASE only respond if you have suggestions on what to do in this situation.

this morning on my way to the bus from the pool (145th and broadway) at approx. 7:55am i saw a person sitting on the ground across the street. hurt. injured. probably fell on the ice. a man was kneeling with her, people were stopping one by one, i figured enough (4? 5?) people were around her to take care of it. i continued to the bus stop, no bus for 10-15 minutes. the hurt person (couldn't tell age or gender yet) was still on the ground, only one person was with her--the original man who was kneeling at her side. i went down into the subway station and asked the woman in the kiosk if she could call an ambulance. she said NO, she COULD NOT. she was only authorized to call if the problem was downstairs in the subway. "there are plenty of cops driving around, or you can flag down a cab who can call on their cell phone...or you can go upstairs to a payphone, 911 is free." so i run upstairs.

it is goddamn fucking freezing outside, the injured person is still sitting on the ground. i try 2 payphones. both frozen. can't dial. finally get 911 pushed, the operator can't hear me because the phone is frozen, and hangs up on me. so i go across the street to see what's up.

it's a 12 year old girl. 911 has been called twice, by the people standing around her. no one knows her, she was on her way to school when she slipped on the icy sidewalk in front of riteaid, which is where she'd been sitting for about 20 minutes when i got there. i kneel down with her...she is conscious, freezing, crying on and off. it's her ankle, she can't move it.

fast forward. ONE HOUR later the ambulance still hasn't arrived. however, a NYPD car shows up. absolutely absolutely no help at all, and total assholes. i don't care if you or your family members are policemen. i no longer respect them or their job. they continued to call EMS for us, they were "backlogged." the girl sat on the fucking freezing ice on the ground for an HOUR before the cops finally agreed to let us move her into the rite aid floor. mind you, rite aid didn't have a blanket, wouldn't give us heating pads (you know, they have those things you can shake up, instant heat)...i only had $2 and couldn't buy one with that. someone brought her a hot chocolate. she looked like she was going to pass out. lying on the floor in the riteaid, with no sympathy or ANYTHING from the cops, the rite aid manager (what a jerk, seriously, took me 3 tries to get the desk clerk to find me the manager, even though i explained there was a 12 year old girl down in front of her store.)

cops won't touch an injured minor. her mother traveled from work to the scene, but also didn't get there until over an hour. let me say this: the ambulance never, ever came. they finally got in touch with both parents, who arrived, which enabled the cops (liability-wise) to move her into the cop car (they couldn't do it before, regardless of the absurd temperature outside) anjd finally around 9:10am the cops, with parents, transported her to the hospital.

i offered to be responsible for moving an injured person, they said you need a parent. they seemed to be saying that we COULD have accepted the liability, but even so, they would not place a minor child in their car (except for warmth, and the cop pointed out "the seat in the car are as hard as the ground." FUCK YOU, copper.)... i don't know what was so special about the 60 minute mark (before the parents arrived) when they finally allowed her to be carried into the store.

i got names and badge numbers of both of the ever-responsible regulation-abiding police officers. 2 other cop cars came by, including one with a female sargeant, all who said the same thing. they are liable if they move her. what about if they don't move her and she freezes to death? might i add that cops don't like questions like that...

so we're all freezing, i was having trouble moving my lips to talk, and my toes were painful. they kept telling her not to worry, that it wasn't broken, only twisted. who cares? they (cops) also said "i've broken plenty of bones, it would be a lot more painful if it was broken, you wouldn't look as good as you do now.." she looked like shit, yo.

so here's what i want from you. who can i call? can i report any of this? do i tell the news? i have the names of the officers, and i have times and location, and i have the girl's name...plus or minus a few letters. her name is [removed], and if i shouldn't have said that here, please advise and i will take it down. i should put the cops' info here as well. NYPD officer Santana badge # 21364, NYPD officer Tirado badge #31790.

thank you for taking the time to read this. i have never done this kind of thing before, the good samaritan thing, i have never had occasion to do so. it is so painful to watch someone in pain that no one will help. you can get a hotdog at 3am on a sunday, but you can't get an ambulance in MANHATTAN NY at 9am on a monday. traffic was fine, the streets were not icy.

peace.